Rossi second fastest in the first practice session at Mugello

Snapshot: On his home soil, where he remained invincible from 2002 to 2008, Rossi shows signs of a possible comeback

Fearing a tough battle from the nine time world champion, Marc Marquez went firing missiles from the moment he heard the word "go". The reigning champion who has maintained the perfect score this season so far, had said a few days ago that it would be difficult for him or anyone to stop Rossi trying his best to win the race at Mugello which is like Rossi's backyard and where he won without fail between 2002 and 2008.

With only minutes left, Marquez, who had been struggling a little on most of the occasions, set the fastest time of 1m48.004s making Rossi slip to the second spot with his time of 1m48.386s. Mugello, this weekend, will also be host to Valentino's 300th GP and in the qualifying, he will try to make sure that he has the perfect opening by taking the pole on Saturday. However, the good part of the disheartening story is that Rossi had been very consistent during the 17 laps he was on the track with many no. of laps clocked in less than 1m50s.

Three podium finishes out of 5 races this season and a margin of 44 points between him and the leader Marquez are good enough reasons to push him harder this weekend and get the maximum points.